Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was elected as the President of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly for a one-year term following a vote by the deputies of the twelfth session of the assembly. He was appointed after receiving 198 votes, while Mojtaba Zonnouri received 60 votes, and Manouchehr Mottaki received 5 votes from a total of 287 votes. The inauguration ceremony of the twelfth session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly took place yesterday, Monday, in the presence of several country officials, military leaders, and ambassadors from foreign countries.
Who is Qalibaf?
Qalibaf was born in Torqabeh, Mashhad (1961), and holds a PhD in political geography from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran. He is an Iranian politician and former military officer who served as the mayor of Tehran and was the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters from 1994 to 1997. He also served as the commander of the Air Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1997 to 2000 and as the head of the Iranian police from 2000 to 2005. He was a candidate in the 2013 Iranian presidential elections but lost to Hassan Rouhani, finishing second with 6,077,292 votes. He was also a candidate in the 2005 presidential elections and announced his candidacy for a third time in the 2017 Iranian presidential elections.
Qalibaf began his military career during the Iran-Iraq War in 1980. He became the head of Imam Reza Forces in 1982 and was the supreme commander of Nasr Forces from 1983 to 1984. After the war, he became the commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters in 1994, which is an engineering company controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was appointed as the commander of the Air Force of the IRGC by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 1996. Four years later, in 1999, he became the head of the Iranian police. He was also appointed as a representative of President Mohammad Khatami during an anti-smuggling campaign in 2002.
